Interesting you mentioned those two great operas. And fundamentally, those two pieces show quintessentially why music is important: it conveys some aspect of being human. Both pieces were dramas involving, in their own convoluted way, about love, jealousy, power, struggle, death, growth etc. etc. It goes back to the roots of why human beings even bother with the arts.

 

Why is any music important? I dunno, ultimately it's just that this is stuff we like, and if enough of us like this stuff, we get to decide collectively that it's important.
Just this morning I saw some children dancing about in the street and cheering, and I stopped one bright-eyed urchin and asked him what was going on, and he replied cheerily, "Why, sir, ain't you heard? It's exactly 303 years since the first performance of Rinaldo, sir! Huzzah!"

 

Is it important? No more than any other form of entertainment. But the elites and people in universities keep telling us "high art" is important in order to justify its continued existence.

 

Umm, don't you mean their continued existence?

 

If it's important to you, then it's important. What anyone else thinks with regard to its importance is unimportant, because ultimately what is important to you is what matters in your life. I, for one, would not like to be without music, to me it is very important, and to know that it matters also to other people is an additional delight, for sharing things we like is surely one of the most wonderful things that we can do, but when you love something that is, let's be honest, a minority interest, then I think that you begin to see many things from a different perspective to those who blindly follow the latest trend. I know many people who claim to like a thing while it's popular, then go off it once something else comes into fashion. To me this suggests that they didn't really like it in the first place, after all, whilst you may after initially listening a lot to a piece, wish to listen to it less, if you like it, you will surely always retain some affection for it? Music has been a constant thread for the good in my life, and that alone makes it important to me, therefore, it's important!

 

Music has been a constant thread for the good in my life, and that alone makes it important to me, therefore, it's important!

A wonderful post as a whole ShropshireMoose, but this last line resonates especially with me. Through the good and especially through the bad, music has been as you say, a constant thread.

It has been my rock - my foundation which has given me strength or solace in a way little else can or does. Music is incredibly important to me and the thought of not having it is frankly depressing.

I find myself agreeing with Nietzsche in that:

Without music, life would be a mistake.

 

It isn't important.

People used to believe that classical music was important because they thought it was civilising. But no one believes that now because of how Germany behaved in the second world war. The nation with the richest music culture behaved like swine.

So now we can see Orfeo and Rinaldo for what they are, a diversion for the rich at their leisure, nothing more.

 

Music and the arts are some of the most exciting, interesting and important things in life. Like science, art plays momentous role in the spiritual adventure of mankind: they are both truth seeking endeavors pursued at the deepest levels human beings are capable of that attempt to answer the fundamental questions in life and also to understand the nature of our world and our role in it. Music and art not only enrich our lives but help us to make sense of them and give them meaning. Art communicates the inexpressible, it says something about the the way things are that cannot be put into words.

 

:tiphat: Great post. The Arts are a taste of the eternal in our short little lives.

 

I disagree with Winterreisender. It is important to those individuals who enjoy listening to it. This has nothing to do with it's status as high art or what academics make it out to be. It is very important to me, because it is what I enjoy. I have long propounded ShropshireMoose's point about the transience of popular music: if it's really that wonderful and you love it so, why do you get tired of it and entirely lose interest in it so quickly? You must not have liked it all that much or else you didn't find it to be as wonderful as you initially thought. I think that the genuinely wonderful does not turn into a pumpkin at midnight.

Now, what importance does music have to society, mankind and posterity? I will leave that to greater thinkers than I to answer

 

Why is any music "important"?

Because there are things that words and images cannot communicate.

 

That's what they keep telling us Horizontal thinking... how does it make you feel? I mostly just draw a blank ...but I really do enjoy it and I don't get tired of it

 

Because there has to be a reason for all this living, striving, working, eating, procreating a next generation to do the same thing all over again. There must be more, otherwise existence is empty. For many, music, art and literature is the reason. You may call it spirituality if so inclined. Whatever you call it, it is a striving for something greater than mundane animal existence and thus is very important.

 

For many, striving, working, eating and procreating are the reasons to live their lives as well.

 

When we run out of water, then we can discuss this. It'll put things into perspective.

 

If that happens, millionrainbows, I intend to be listening to L'Orfeo in my final moments.

 

Why is music important?
Because without it, life is simply not worth living.
It nourishes my soul and gives me the strength to carry on.

 

Here's some more questions that are equally unanswerable:

Why is sex important?

Why is religion important?

Why is poetry important?

Why are sports important?

Why are movies important?

Why is hanging out with your friends important?

There was another thread, from just last year, entitled "Is music important?"

Put that way, it's simple: "Yes. Next quetion!"

 

One more question: "why is noise important?"

 

^^^^^None of them are as important as music.

I could learn to live without all of them except music.

 

Not even love?

 

Music communicates itself, not 'something' that can't be communicated otherwise. Unless someone can tell me what that other incommunicable thing is, of course!

 

I really enjoy spreading it on a couple slices of bread for a roast-beef sandwich. It helps moisten the contents.


... wait a minute, that's mayo. Crap.

 

Because, in the end, it (classical music) engenders in me a feeling of immense pride at being a human being.

 

I don't feel comfortable answering this question without a "Yes/No/Unsure" poll. Deviations from standard procedure are a sure sign of an internet scam. No, you can't have my social security number either.

 

On the other hand, think of literature - some works like 'Ulysses' were not commercial to start off with. New things always meet with resistance but then become 'classics' in their turn. Sometimes you have to dare to be disliked to start off with.

 

~Deja Vu~

http://www.talkclassical.com/29009-music-important.html

 

Yeah. My point.